Saturday, January 5, 2013

In The Mix But Not Forgotten

The last 6 weeks of the year are a whirlwind for us. We have Thanksgiving, Christmas and two birthdays.

I think I've mentioned a little about our Thanksgiving: we volunteer at our church where we serve (well we, means us and 500 others!) dinner for about 1300 people. I lead the Condiment team, about 15 amazing people who prepare olives, pickles, cranberry sauce and rolls. Then they open, score, cut, plate, tray and serve 1300 pieces of pie! It's exhausting work and takes weeks of planning.

A week later is Allison's birthday. (I realized just a  few minutes ago I never posted about her birthday. Ugh.)

Of course by now we're already full swing into shopping, baking, Christmas parties, tree buying and decorating, planning, wrapping... then the big day comes and it's fun and busy and exciting!

I've been blessed lately to have the day after Christmas off. We usually sleep in and move slowly most of the day.

The next day? December 27? Is Diana's birthday.

Beth and Sharaya were both c-sections so when I got pregnant with Diana we were able to schedule her birth. The doctor gave us a choice of about 2 weeks, December 19 through January 3. Any one of those days we could choose as Diana's birthday. Chuck's mom was turning 60 on December 27 and we thought it would be a great tribute to her to have her grandchild born on her birthday.

What we didn't do, but we should have done, was ask around first. There was no Facebook at that time, no email but there were plenty of people we could have asked about having a birthday so close to Christmas. Even Mary Ann (Chuck's mom) had told us stories of how hard it was, but we didn't consider that when choosing Diana's birth date.

We know Diana has felt forgotten at times. Felt like she wasn't very special or that we didn't care. But those feelings couldn't be farther from the truth. It's been hard, I won't lie to you. We try, but often fall short.

We adore this girl SO much! She makes us laugh, she brightens our days! She's always looking toward the future and her outlook on life inspires us.

We love you Diana! We know some of your birthdays have been less than thrilling, but know that you are loved and appreciated all year! Not just on December 27.


I remembered to take pictures after the gifts and cheesecake!
(FYI, she's holding Sharaya's puppy in her lap)

 

 

 

3 comments:

Caz said...

i love the new photo of Beth, as well as the the photo's of the rest of the family. Goldi and I both have birthdays next week, and even that feels too close to Christmas to really organise anything, so the 27th must be a tricky one.

Unknown said...

My m-i-l's birthday was Dec. 27 and she talked about sometimes feeling overlooked because of Christmas. My hubs and I always made a point to take her out on her birthday. She passed in 2008, so now we go to Mass on her birthday and light a candle for her.

Happy birthday to your Diana!

LOVE the new header with Beth's picture!

JC said...

I always thought it would be hard to have a Birthday so close to Christmas...Having the two best days of the year so close together would almost seem like a rip off!! Happy Birthday to Diana!

LOVE the new header picture, looks great!